Agency Boot Camp

3 New Agency Boot Camps

2010-08-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

By popular request I am pleased to announce we have scheduled 3 more Agency Internet Boot Camps.

These are one day events.

Steve Anderson and I are the instructors and AIMS is the sponsor.

Here are the dates and locations...

The AIMS Society is pleased to be working through our existing CPIA Sponsors to bring you this exciting new program!!

Boot Camp Dates / Locations / Fees:

Sept 21, 2010 - PIA-NY/NJ/CT/NH headquarters - 25 Chamberlain St., Glenmont, NY 12077
      Registration Fees: $185 (PIA / CPIA Member) / $225 (non-member)

Sept 30, 2010 - PIA-VA & DC headquarters - 8751 Park Central Dr., Su. 140 Richmond, VA 23227
      Registration Fees: $155 (PIA / CPIA Member) / $195 (non-member)

Oct 21, 2010 - Alabama Independent Insurance Agents headquarters - 141 London Pkwy, Birmingham, AL 35211
      Registration Fees (includes lunch): $216 (IIA / CPIA Member) / $256 (non-member)

Click Here to Sign Up or Learn More

Part 3 of 10 - How to do Business Online

2010-05-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

Part 3 of 10 - how to do insurance business online http://idek.net/1XYQ

How to Do Business Online

2010-05-10T13:19:00.001-07:00

I have started a 10 part posting on this issue on my Simply Easier ACORD forms blog.

You can check part 1 out at "How can an independent insurance compete with direct writers online? I Part 1 of 10 part blog posting."

60 Second Web Site Review

2010-01-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

What makes a good insurance agency website? Functionality and clean easy to read presentation.

I am starting with a good example...

You may need to pause the video to read some of the callouts.

This is pretty good - could be better - and you could have one that is better.

I don't build web sites. That is not my business. But I am interested in and aware of this particular market place. Since I am not trying to sell you my web site building I hope I can be impartial.

Insurance Agency Internet Boot Camp

2010-01-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

The Most Asked For Class of the Year

Hands on Learning of the Basics for Your Insurance Agency Doing Business Online

As we have traveled around the country this year speaking at dozens of insurance meetings, the question we get asked more than any other is “Can you teach an Internet how to class that is hands on and detail oriented?” So that’s what we are going to do.

When: 12:00 PM Feb 8th through 4:00 PM Feb 9th, 2010

Where: Aloft Hotel in Franklin, TN – just south of Nashville (right off Interstate 65)

View Larger Map

Space is Limited

Cost $249.00

Class Focus:

This is a true hands-on, active learning experience. You have to bring a computer with Wifi connectivity. Everyone in the class will be online and doing things the entire time. When you leave this class you will have actually completed the following tasks so you will be able to continue doing them when you get back to your office.

Learned how Google and other search engines find you
Learned how to understand your online competition and exactly how to move above them in search results
Listed your agency in Google Local Business
Tracked your online reputation and your competition with Google Reader and Alerts
Created your own blog.
Learned to add pictures to a blog and add video to a blog.
Learned about Google Adwords and Adsense. Find out how and if you should use them for your agency.
Learned how to comment on other blogs to build your web presence and your business.
Created a Facebook profile.
Learned how to use Facebook advertising to attract prospects to your agency.
Created a Twitter account.
Learned exactly how to use Twitter to build your business.
Created a YouTube account.
Created and upload your first YouTube video.
Embedded that video in your blog.
Learned exactly what functions need to be on your agency web site – what real customers want.
Learned how to create an online and offline business sales and marketing plan for your agency.
Learned how to measure and adjust to be sure you are reaching your goals.

In addition to a laptop or netbook, you will also bring some type of video camera – a Flip Video or digital camera with the ability to record video – or something similar. You will have created a Google gmail account for yourself. You also need to begin thinking about a name for your blog.

What Others Have Said

"Attending the boot camp made me realize how many useful programs are out there on the web.....for free!

Jose L Miraya, CIC, LUTCF
Advantage Insurance Agency"
===========================================

"I was unable to attend the first boot camp but I can tell from reading the blogs that everyone who attended is light-years ahead of most agency principals in their understanding of how to integrate Internet Marketing into their agency operation.

I plan to attend the second Agency Boot Camp in Franklin, Tennessee and highly recommend it to everyone in the insurance industry! I hope to see y'all there.

Eddie K. Emmett
Editor / Publisher
FYI Express
AIANC's STREET WISE"
===========================================

"I thought the meeting was great. I plan on meeting with my technical employees and brainstorming about all the things we talked about. When I say technical employees, I mean people that know how to turn a computer on and off. I will probably have more questions after we meet. Whatever it takes, lets have at least three more meetings.

Rick Pegram, Founder of Pegram Agencies and Superior Agencies"

===========================================

This boot camp is not the 30,000 foot view. This is the feet on the street, how to execute the action view of the world.

About the Instructors

Steve Anderson is a nationally recognized insurance agency technology authority with years of experience. His newsletter – The Anderson Agency Report – is one of the best and most influential in the industry. His annual HIGH-TECC Conference in Vail, Colorado is a must attend event for the technology leaders in the Property and Casualty industry.

Duke Williams has created several of the most used web sites in the Property and Casualty insurance space. He has been teaching all over the country for the past two years trying to help agents understand how to use the Internet to grow their agencies.

Who Should Attend

Agency owners
Agency marketing and sales staff
Carrier marketing reps

Limited Space Guarantees Personal Attention

Because Steve and Duke spend as much time as needed walking around the class room to help each individual work through each step, space is limited to 20.

Cost: $249.00 per attendee.

Registration

I have read recently that in 2009, 85% of insurance buyers made their first contact with the agent they eventually bought insurance from online. Would they find you? If they did would your online presence make them want to buy from your agency?

I looked at almost 250 independent insurance agencies in 5 cities. Only 64 had any web presence. Twenty five percent. Of those with a web presence, no independent insurance agent site had more than 7 of the 17 functions I think are critical to doing business online. Most had only 2 of these functions.

Close this Gap - Be in Business in 2012 and Be Growing

Learn How to Start

Insurance Agency Internet Boot Camp

When: Feb 8th and 9th
Where: Franklin, TN
Cost: $249.00
Click here to register.

The registration price covers the class only. Snacks and drinks will be available.

Is Franklin Tennessee too far for you? Let us know where you are and we will use that to put this class on in other locations. Email me at duke@sehhey.com or call me at 1-800-768-0907.

Agency Web Presence Numbers

2010-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

I have spent the later part of my holiday season taking a hard look at insurance agency's web presence. I looked at five communities - Aiken, SC; Durham, NC; Duluth, GA; Mobile, AL; and Pembroke Pines, FL.

These communities had 392 unique physical locations with addresses inside the city limits where you could buy car insurance.

In addition, all locations had at least 19 online only agency choices where you could purchase a real time policy.

248 independent agencies
49 Nationwide agencies
19 Online only agencies
51 State Farm agencies
26 Allstate agencies
7 Farmers agencies
7 Alpha agencies
2 Farm Bureau agencies
1 GEICO local agency
1 Direct General agency – a regional non standard auto insurance carrier with owned agency locations

Agency Web Presence

All direct writer agencies had web sites for each agency location.

Obviously all 19 online only agencies had a web site.

64 independent agencies had a website. 25.8%

184 independent agencies had no web presence

All direct writer agencies were in Google “local results” in addition to being in the general organic search results.

74 independent agencies were in Google “local results”.

174 independent agencies were not in Google “local results”.

These functional results are for the independent agencies only. All national direct writers had very high functionality. No agency had all these functions, but the national direct writers had all but one or two.

Real Time Functions

Quotes – 6 – 2.4% of all, 9.4% of agencies with web sites

Buy a policy – 3 – 1.2% of all, 4.7% of agencies with web sites

Request changes - 0

Report claims – 5 – 2% of all, 7.8% of agencies with web sites

Make Payments – 13 but 6 were just links to carriers, 1 used PayPal – 5.2% of all, 20.3% of agencies with web sites

Review account information – 6 but 2 were just links to carriers – 2.4% of all, 9.4% of agencies with web sites

Get Directions – 11 – 4.4% of all, 17.2% of agencies with web sites

E-mail link – 21 – 8.5% of all, 32.8% of agencies with web sites

Get needed forms – ie, proof of insurance, certificates of insurance – 3 – 1.2% of all, 4.7% of agencies with web sites

Follow on social network – Facebook, Twitter, etc - 0

Peer ratings and reviews – 1 – 0.4% of all, 1.6% of agencies with web sites

Non Real Time Online Functions

Quote forms to request a quote – 33 – 13.3% of all, 51.6% of agencies with web sites

Request a change – 8 but 1 was page showing carriers phone numbers – 3.2% of all, 12.5% of agencies with web sites

Report a claim – 13 but 9 were just links to carriers or carrier phone numbers – 5.2% of all, 20.3% of agencies with web sites

Questions I Can’t Answer – This Relates to Car Insurance

Recently I have read that 85% of all car insurance buyers in 2009 had their first interaction with the eventual source of their insurance purchase online.

But I have seen other reports that show the percentage of policies actually bought online are still in the low single digits.

If my memory is correct, when the travel agents got put out of business by travel websites, it happened in about 12 to 18 months.

What is it about the sale of insurance that is tracking car buying more than travel agents?

Today, most car purchases are researched online but the vast majority of cars are bought in person. Of course a car is physical.

An insurance policy is as digital as an airline ticket, but current consumer behavior is somewhere between travel agents and car dealers.

Why?

Regardless, I think most car dealers have a website.

The 74.2% of independent agents who have no web site simply do not exist to the 85% of buyers who make first contact online.

Even among the independent agents with a web site, the functionality was never even half as complete as the national direct writer’s sites.

NOTES on Development of These Numbers

This information was put together by Duke Williams. dwilliams@myatlatl.com , 800-768-0907. Please use it as you see fit.

I used the “find an agent” feature on many insurance carrier websites. I used Google search with the term “car insurance city name state name” but without quotes. I used the SuperPages, YellowPages and about a half dozen other lists online.

When using Google search I would go to about the 8th page of results.

I will have missed a few agencies – but since they did not show up in the first 8 pages on Google I assume all insurance buyers will miss them also.

I will have some agencies on the list that are no longer in business. I tried to only take agents from secondary lists which were confirmed on other lists.

I personally went to all websites and saw the features I have recorded in these results. All this was done between 12/30/2009 and 1/10/2010.

Sign Up for Google Reader and Alerts

2009-11-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

Each person at the Boot Camp signed up for Google Reader and Google Alerts. We did this so each person could clearly and easily see how the things they posted on line were real and being reviewed or noticed by a variety of online services.

Google Reader is a way to organize your blog reading. Since everyone is going to be creating their own blog, setting up Reader will be a way they can see a service notice their blog posting right away. They will also go back and subscribe to the other blogs created in the class to see how tracking other blogs works, looks and feels.

To set up Google Reader you go to your Google Account. If Reader is not one of the options you already see, scroll down and click on more options. Select Reader from the options.

Click on Reader. Click on the "Add a subscription" button in the top left area. Cut and paste or type in the blog's web address - url.

You have now added and account blog subscription. You can add as many as you want.

Add Alerts the same way. Once you have added Alerts to your account, click on the Alerts link and add any words or phrase. Be aware that common words or popular phrase may bury you in results. Setting an alert for the word "insurance" would probably send so many results as to not be useful. Enter the name of your agency, your name, your competitor's name will probably be very useful.

What is Google Page Rank

2009-11-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

Google Page Rank is a value assigned by Google to represent in a rough way the importance of your web page. Notice I did not say web site. Only web pages have a Page Rank.

All other things being equal, the page with the highest Page Rank for a search term or phrase will be the first page displayed in Google Search results.

Here is Google's explanation from their own web site...

PageRank Technology: PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.
PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. We have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and our technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page's importance.
Hypertext-Matching Analysis: Our search engine also analyzes page content. However, instead of simply scanning for page-based text (which can be manipulated by site publishers through meta-tags), our technology analyzes the full content of a page and factors in fonts, subdivisions and the precise location of each word. We also analyze the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user's query.

You can find you page rank by adding the Google Toolbar to your browser. This will also show you the page rank of every web page you are on as you are on that page.

For those who do not what to add a toolbar, there are sites such as PRChecker.info that will tell you any pages page rank.

Find and Claim Yourself Online

2009-11-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

To get the Boot Camp started we first had everyone Google their name or their business' name. We used this format for the..

inside quote marks, you name or business name
followed by a space, a plus sign, a space and then your home city and state

Here is the picture of one such search.

Notice where this shows the number of responses? You can track the changes in this number as a very rough guide to how present you are on the web.

The quote marks limit the search to results with just those words in them, as opposed to results that have either of those words in them. The reason I don't put the city and state in quotes is I want the results with either of those words.

Next Everyone went to their Google account Profile and if they had not already done so, they entered some basic information on their profile and then claimed their Google Profile URL. This is at the bottom of the prfile page.

Finally, to complete our first set of tasks, everyone claimed their local address. This is done through Google Local Business.

More tomorrow. This will take a dozen or so posts.

Re-Cap of 1st Agency Boot Camp

2009-11-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

This is a long post and a rough re-cap of the first agency boot camp.

Over the next two weeks I will be posting details with pictures and arrows explaining each of the things we did. I will organize them in a link list on the right hand side of this post so they will remain easy to find for anyone wanting to run their own Agency Boot Camp without me, or for those who may be able to learn online without attending a boot camp.

Here we go....

First Boot Camp Recap

8 attendees

5 agencices

1 husband and wife team

4 individual agency owners

1 marketing person from Jenesis - -agency management system

1 marketing rep from GMAC insurance

Started the class about 9:10AM.

Starting at 9, I showed a Youtube video of the Evian babies ad just to sort of settle the room and wait for the last 2 folks to arrive – bad traffic jam.

Began by asking questions about what level folks were at.

Who has a web site – 3 of 5 agencies had one.

Who updated their own website – no one.

Who had a blog, Google Reader, Google Alerts, Google analytics, twitter, YouTube accounts – one or two Twitter accounts but not really used.

Who had Facebook – a couple but not really used.

Focused all morning on actual hands on doing – the mechanics of the tasks.

First I had everyone Google their names and /or their business names. I showed them how to search with quotation marks and plus signs. The search was “name name” + city, state. Most folks did not know about searching with quote marks or plus signs.

I had them either save the results pages or write down the number of results to compare to later searches.

Next I explained Page Rank to them. How to build it, what is realistic, how to know what yours is, how to know what your competitors is.

Then I spoke about how Google determines relevance in search, about the importance of exact search words match. I told them about how in July my ACORD Forms site was found using 6700 unique search words.

The top 5 words or phrases were 22% of visits, the top 100 were 52% of visits, the bottom 6600 were all unique searches and 48% of my traffic – sales.

I explained this long tail of search, finding niche phrases, combined with being local is how a small business beats a national business in search and online.

I had every one go to their Google account and complete their Profile. The purpose was to claim their name, and/or their business name – or both.

Next I had every one claim their address on Google maps. I did not remember exactly how to do this so I asked them to use Google to search for “claim your address on Google maps”. This taught everyone I do not have all the answers, but I know how to find them and now they know how to find them also.

I spent a lot of time – most of my time – going from person to person to be certain they were all able to complete each task.

I showed them my blog – DukeThinkingOnline.blogspot.com. I pointed out the ClustrMaps gadget.

I had them go back to their Google account and sign up for Reader and add a blog or two to the reader to see how it works.

I had them sign up for Google Alerts. They entered their names, their business names, their competitor’s names – whatever they wanted, for a comprehensive search and daily alert emails.

We took a break at 10:30AM

Everyone created their own Blog account through Google blogspot.

It took about 10 to 15 minutes of the meeting for folks to decide on their blog’s name. I should have anticipated this. Going forward I will ask folks to have already selected a name for their blog and save this time.

First part of sign up was spent demonstrating How you can add a sub-title, move things in the layout around, choose a template.

Showed how to add gadgets to your Blog page layout.

Talked a little bit about adding Adsense – how to monetize a blog or web page. This lead to a discussion of affiliate marketing in general. Explained how this works and mentioned that ClickBank and Commission Junction are the two large, reputable firms in this space. Mentioned that you could sign up as the affiliate of several insurance companies and get paid a commission for sending visitors to their site to get quotes. You are much better off selling your own service – but this is an option.

Spent small amount of time showing settings – mainly the setting for comment management.

Discussed connection between headline or each individual post and the tags – keywords.

Showed how to type in text, upload a picture.

Talked about how Blogger loads all pictures to the top of the page and how to move them – drag or cut and paste and then delete the one on top of page.

Save post before posting. Preview post.

I had everyone go to YouTube and showed them where the embed code is located on all YouTube pages.

Everyone copied the embed code from a video, then went back to their Blog editor, went to the HTML tab and learned how to paste the embed code into their blog.

Then they went to the compose tab and the preview and saw the video embedded in their blog.

Everyone posted their blog entry.

I had everyone pass around their blog’s name to each other and go visit those blogs. This made everyone realize they had just actually added something real to the web – live.

Folks commented on each other’s blogs.

Folks went to check their Google alerts and Reader accounts. They added their blog’s url to their reader and Alerts accounts. They added others in the class also. They saw how instantly the Reader updated to show the latest posts. This was a big eye opener – it made them believe.

I had everyone go to Twitter and either sign up or sign in.

I discussed Twitter in general. I showed them how to use url shorteners and the pluses and minus’s of this.

I had each person tweet about one of the blogs they had created or commented on with a url shortener in the tweet for tracking.

I had them follow each other and retweet each other.

I mentioned direct messaging.

I talked about how people use Twitter to follow news, etc. How they can use it to drive site traffic. I did not have time before lunch to talk about how to find people in your community on Twitter. I forgot to talk about how to find local blogs to comment on and begin to become a part of your local community.

We broke lunch right at noon. Since we were meeting on the cheap, we all went out for lunch.

We started back around 1:10PM – a little late.

We had a discussion about how to place your main web site url in your comments, in your properties section of any picture you put on your web pages, in the description of your video files and in your YouTube videos.

The benefit being all of this leads to a higher link back count for Google rankings.

This led to a discussion on how search engines and specifically Google understand your page and decide what to show first for search results.

This turned into a discussion of how to build a three tier page structure for maximizing your search results and findability.

After this discussion I showed the class how I use SiteSell to build web pages without having to program.

Then how SiteSell gives me a good bit of analytics for understanding and improving my web page results. It is not that everyone needs to use SiteSell, it is to show the types of things you can get to allow you to control your own web site instead of relying on a third party.

Finally we got around to using our Flip Video cameras.

Everyone recorded a short video – nothing special – just something to have to go through the process once.

Everyone plugged their camera into their PC and exported the file to their desktop.

They logged on to their YouTube account and uploaded the video. They added a description – including a url – and added tags – YouTubes version of keywords.

They cut and pasted the embed code into a blog posting.

I talked about using Camtasia to make somewhat more elaborate videos – better editing and voice over.

I talked about how inexpensive the limited hardware I use for good quality voice over is and how to use the free program audacity for sound recording works

We took a break at 2:30 for 15 minutes

After the break I started talking about what you should expect your web site to do and what you needed to think about for your customers experience on your web site.

I asked them what was the first thing they said to some one who came into their current office. They all said some version of “How can I help you”

I told them this was exactly what they needed to say to a visitor to their home page on their web site.

We discussed the fact that nobody really comes to your web site to get your phone number. They come to your web site to get something done. The same things they come to your office for or call you on the phone for. So I asked people what it was that made people call them or come see them.

We created a list of these reasons. Then we began talking about how to provide a solution to each of these needs to a web site visitor.

I said I felt most of their web visitors would be existing customers and so providing the service needs of these customers was the single most important thing – better service = better retention + maybe cross selling.

We talked about the need to be able to not just give a quote online, but to make the full sale online.

I had Rick Pegram talk extensively about his experience with ZipRater and ZipDealer and how this “end to end” online ability to make sales 24/7/365 has changed his world.

Both Rick and I agreed that starting the move to having a real online business was slow at first, but that it is realistic to think you can build your online presence over a 24 month period to a point where it generates more than ½ of your revenue. That means it generates as much as you do now without it.

I briefly showed SehHey as a way to provide customers with secure access to their policy information and forms they needed. This was very brief.

We talked about what might be next.

Several folks thought the one day format was great because they had been exposed to so much, they wanted time to try things out and absorb things. But they all seemed to think getting together in 4, 6 or 8 weeks for a next meeting would be very valuable.

They wanted to have worked on some things enough to know what to ask about. They wanted to share with each other what they had done and the results. They wanted me to cover more things – they all knew how little we had scratched the surface and how things are changing so quickly.

We left around 4:45 PM I think it was a very useful day for all of us.

Agency Videos

2009-11-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

NOTE: I am working on a complete write up of the Monday Boot Camp. I will post it over the weeekend. It will be in a format which will help others who did not attend.

Now - on to videos.

Most agents first videos seem to be things like...

The scene opens with the agent talking to the camera.
The agent says "I'm a great guy and I can save you money"
The video ends.

There are much beeter ways to do this.

As my college writing teacher used to say endlessly "Show me, don't tell me"

Your video should do one of two things...

Provide an answer to the questions "how to"
Tell a story

If you want people to believe you can save them money, get a written release from a customer you just sold a policy to and saved money, use that Flip Video camera to film that customer saying "Hi, I'm -------- and I just saved $xxx.00 buying my new insurance policy from "your name here"

Take a look at the way Gary Vaynerchuk does videos. He spent years perfecting this on his http://tv.winelibrary.com/ site. You will be hard pressed to beat his passion and style. But you should try.

First Boot Camp

2009-11-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

I am excited to annouce the first agency boot camp.

Boot camp will take place Nov 9 at:

Holiday Inn Express
4912 South Miami Blvd
Durham, NC 27703
919 474-9800

Here is the outline for the class...

Goals of Agency Boot Camp – ABC

This is all about making money for your business.

The primary goal of Boot Camp is for you to actually do things – hands on experience – so you will be in control of your business’ future.

All the things we cover are designed to get you started making money from your online presence. You will extend your physical office to a new online office where your customers can get the same things done with you 24/7 online as they can now get done by coming to your physical office or calling you on the phone.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CLASS

You will need a wireless capable laptop or netbook. The entire class is hands on and depends on you being able to do things online during each session.

Active Gmail account before you get to class.

You will not need to learn how to do any programming. You do not need any technical knowledge beyond the basic ability to use a computer, browse the web, and use a word processing and spreadsheet program at a basic level.

Outline of Timeline

Day 1 – The Web as a Social Business Platform

9:00 to 10:15 – Check Google, Yahoo and Bing search to see how many results appear for your agency name and your agency’s lines of business. Hands on sign up for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google accounts, Blogspot, SehHey, Tweetdeck. Basics of how to use each of these services.

10:15 to 10:30 – Break

10:30 to 12:00 – Write your first blog post. Add a picture. Embed a video. Post your first tweet. Learn how to use url shorteners in Twitter and track results. Tweet about the blog post or web sites of others in the class.

12:00 to 1:00 – Lunch

1:00 to 2:15 – Create fan badge in Facebook for your business page. Become a fan of other attendees pages. Send message to fans. Include url shortner in message. Send update using Posterious. Check Facebook and Twitter to be sure it posted. Read posts from others in the class. Retweet. Check url click through rates. Learn to use SehHey. Post documents to share. Send invitation. Accept invitation, etc.

2:15 to 2:30 - Break

2:30 to 3:45 – Defining your markets and your niches. Create spreadsheet for measuring your goals and results. How to design a web page and web site for sales and search. Web site analytics.

3:45 to 4:00 – Break

4:00 to 5:00 – Writing your web page to make sales.

Thanks to GMAC Insurance for sponsoring the camp so all can attend free of charge.